DefinePK

Abstract

Short range cruise missiles carrying miniaturized warheads, both conventional and nuclear, enhance tactical and counterforce capabilities of a state’s military. It is therefore, important to understand how cruise missile development in the subcontinent affects the contours of stability‐instability paradox through juxtaposing their employment according to the operational doctrines of th two nuclear armed rivals in South‐Asia. Cruise missiles were introduced in India with the test firing of BrahMos on August 12, 2001 and Babur by Pakistan on August 11, 2005. The logic behind developing these weapons by both countries, however, differs. The paper looks into the role of cruise missiles of Pakistan and India in the framework of their respective military doctrines to understand how their development has impacted the regional security dynamics. The paper further argues that India’s limited war fighting doctrine under the nuclear umbrella (Cold Start) was aimed at creating space for low level violence.